Couple escape injury when plane plunges into creek

August 09, 1992

A Columbia couple were rescued uninjured by members of the Maryland Air National Guard yesterday morning after their single-engine plane crashed into a creek as it was taking off from Martin State Airport.

Four members of the Guard's 175th Fighter Group based at Martin were conducting water survival training when the four-seat Piper Cherokee Arrow lost power and crashed in Frog Mortar Creek off Strawberry Point at 11:25 a.m.

"We were down on the beach when all of a sudden, we heard this noise," Lt. Col. Tommy O'Sullivan said in a statement released by the Guard. "We turned around, and there's this airplane with its nose in the water."

The Guard members helped the pilot, Bobby McAdam, and her husband, Mac, swim to shore. Bound for a two-week vacation in Maine, the couple had just about gotten off the runway when the plane "came right down" about 20 feet from shore, said Carol Riley, airport spokeswoman.

"They were shaken up" but unhurt, Ms. Riley said. She added that members of the Baltimore County police, state police, Department of Natural Resources and airport crew helped in the rescue.

The plane was pulled out of 20 feet of water yesterday afternoon. It was not clear what caused the plane to lose power. Ms. Riley said the crash will be investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.